Duality : Book 1 of Codex Elysium

Chapter 47 (edited)

Chapter 47

"Report!" Fallon barked.

The furies had positioned themselves all around the crossroads and on the buildings above them. Rayne had been scouting across the rooftops down the west road until she had stopped and frantically started gesturing. Fallon and Mist had sprinted to her position.

"We are not alone!"

Fallon scowled at the scene below, armoured figures with swords drawn stood in the street. Rayne gestured across at the roof where hidden archers waited.

"Do you think they are here for the girl too?" asked Mist.

"No, they are clearly guarding that building, there is another thing..."

Rayne began silently stalking across rooftops, the others followed until they had a better view point of where they had just been. Rayne pointed to a blonde girl hiding in the shadows.

"There is a man with her as well, they have been stalking the people in the streets, and I believe the buildings below us are full of their troops too."

Fallon looked up at the cloudy sky. Dawn was rapidly approaching but it was still too dark to see, except for the occasional lightning flash, which showed her more than enough.

"So, what are we looking at here?" mused Fallon. "An ambush? The start of a battle?"

Mist and Rayne began to silently draw their weapons.

"Slow down girls, we are not here to engage. Retrieval only, remember?"

Both girls pouted and grudgingly re-sheathed their weapons.

"So where is this girl anyway?" asked Mist.

****

Gullveig looked up from the tiny bowl she held in both hands, her face was illuminated from the glowing liquid inside.

"Sophia is about to cross."

"Good, the sooner this is over the better," Hella muttered.

She didn't like being back here, every time the lightning illuminated the ruins it brought back all the memories of her loss, and reminded her of Loki's demise.

"Do we really need those things?"

Hella gestured at all the commotion going on behind them. A group of heavily built male Furies were desperately hanging onto rusted chains, whips cracked, while swords and spears stabbed at the beasts. The monsters tried to break free while roaring their pain and fury, leathery wings beat at the sky, whipping up storms of dust. Massive claws dug furrows into the cobbled streets while jaws filled with sharp teeth snapped at their captors. The male Furies were all massive, bulked out with muscle, their arms, bare chests and faces were all covered in cuts and burns. Sweat dripped from them as they tried to contain the beasts.

"I thought there were no males in Gladsheim?" Gullveig watched the men heaving and straining on the chains, she watched their muscles flexing and bulging.  She turned to her sister with a mischievous grin.

"Sometimes men have their uses."

Hella blushed as she realized what Gullveig was implying. "Where have the beasts come from? I thought they had been extinct for thousands of years?"

"They were, I was fortunate to locate their skeletons deep in the mountain range and with a little Vanir magic they were soon up and about again."

The smile faded from Gullveig's face as she watched several Furies running for cover as a torrent of fire came their way. "It's odd, I would have thought that they would be happy to be alive again."

****

"How can you not know what we are tracking? What has happened to all the amazing senses that you had when we first met?"

Jason kicked at a rotten book in frustration, as he sent the thought to the cat.

"There is some strange power at work, it coats the whole city. Things have been off since we crossed the boundary."

Brutus continued to pick his way carefully through the ruined library. Deeper into the library the cat quested, nose twitching endlessly, pink tongue occasionally tasting the air. Jason had been stumbling along, tripping and scrambling while the cat gracefully leapt from point to point. Brutus turned to look back, the endless scrambling noises had stopped.  Jason was standing like a statue, his mind churning as a thought hit him. There is magic concealing everything from Brutus's senses, where are all the Passus? I haven't seen one yet! Eva crashed into Jason, unaware he had stopped, sending them both crashing into a rotten book case. Books and shelves rained down on them as they hit the floor.  Eva swore violently and punched Jason in the shoulder.

"Why the hell did you stop so suddenly?"

Jason began to untangle himself from the rotten books and wood, but stopped as he spotted Brutus in the growing light. The cat had gone still, ears pricked and head cocked to one side.

"We need to get back to the others right now!" said Jason, helping Eva back to her feet.

"What? Why? What about your book?"

Brutus arched his back and hissed.

"Screw the book!" shouted Jason. "We are in big trouble!"

He made a fist which burst into emerald flames, so bright it lit the whole room. Without another word he began racing back the way he had come. Brutus bounded off after him, leaving Eva cursing violently before taking off herself.

Tiberius stood in the main section of the library, he had refused to follow them into the broken stacks, claiming he was far too old to be climbing over rubble and debris. His staff cast a pale ghostly glow around him but the light quickly turned green. He arched an eyebrow at the approaching fireball and the running feet.  Jason appeared out of the darkness, flaming hand held high, his robe bellowing around him.

"Ambush! We are under attack!"

Brutus appeared out of the gloom and flashed by, then came Eva, still cursing viciously.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" cried Tiberius. "Can't we ever go anywhere without you getting us attacked?"

Jason gave the old druid a scathing look but before he could reply, footsteps pounded from the other end of the room.

"We are under attack!" Alexia emerged from the gloom, with her blonde hair and pale skin she could easily pass for a ghost or wraith.

"We badly need help out there!" Tiberius arched an eyebrow at Jason. "I told you this was an absurd plan, one day you are going to get us all killed!"

The old druid turned and stormed off after Alexia's retreating form.  Jason gave Eva a questioning look. "Come on, he used to blame me for everything that went wrong before you showed up!"